ELSOUL LABO Acquires Own ASN (AS200261) and Opens Top-Tier Data Center Dedicated to Solana — Initial Lot Sold Out, Waitlist Now Open

ERPC, operated by ELSOUL LABO B.V. (Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands; CEO: Fumitake Kawasaki) and Validators DAO, is pleased to announce that ELSOUL LABO has been assigned its own ASN (AS200261) by RIPE NCC and is opening a new top-tier data center dedicated to Solana.

The initial lot of premium resources has already sold out by reservation. Subsequent inventory will be offered in waitlist order. Customers interested in securing resources are encouraged to register early.

Significance of Acquiring Our Own ASN

What Is an ASN?

An ASN (Autonomous System Number) is a unique identifier for an independently operated network on the internet. ASNs are assigned to ISPs, data center operators, and organizations that manage large-scale networks, serving as the foundation for inter-network routing via BGP (Border Gateway Protocol). Holding your own ASN means having the capability to independently design network routing, peering strategies, and traffic control.

What Is RIPE NCC?

RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) responsible for the allocation and registration of internet resources — including IP addresses and ASNs — across Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. RIPE NCC membership demonstrates the technical and operational capacity to manage internet infrastructure. ELSOUL LABO is now in its third term as a RIPE member.

ELSOUL LABO ASN Information

text

aut-num:   AS200261
as-name:   ELSOUL-LABO
org:       ORG-ELB1-RIPE
status:    ASSIGNED
source:    RIPE

aut-num:   AS200261
as-name:   ELSOUL-LABO
org:       ORG-ELB1-RIPE
status:    ASSIGNED
source:    RIPE

PeeringDB: https://www.peeringdb.com/net/41820

Designing a Solana-Dedicated Global Network

Financial Networks in the Web3 Era

In traditional financial networks, proximity to local stock exchanges and regional network infrastructure was the key competitive advantage. In the Web3 and blockchain era, however, financial networks have fundamentally shifted to a global model.

Cities like Frankfurt and Amsterdam remain critically important as financial and network hubs. Yet in a globally distributed network like Solana — where block leaders rotate rapidly across regions worldwide — optimizing for a single location is not enough. Building optimal network quality across the entire globe is what creates true competitive advantage.

Acquiring our own ASN is the foundation for realizing this vision. With the ability to independently optimize network route design, peering partner selection, and traffic control, we now have the freedom to architect the fastest possible connectivity to the Solana network as a whole.

Top-Tier Standards for Every Resource

The new data center enforces top-tier standards across all hardware and network quality. This represents an evolution from ERPC's longstanding principle of selecting only first-class resources to now applying that standard from the data center design and build level under our own control.

Data Center Rollout Plan

First Location: Frankfurt

Frankfurt — home to the largest concentration of Solana stake in the world — will be our first location, with opening preparations underway for completion within this month. As one of Europe's largest internet hubs with DE-CIX, Frankfurt is the single most important location for high-frequency trading, DeFi, and global Web3 projects.

Second Location: Amsterdam

Amsterdam, which holds the second-largest Solana stake concentration globally, is planned as our next expansion. Hosting AMS-IX and situated at the geographic center of continental Europe, Amsterdam offers high-density routing paths in all directions. Together with Frankfurt, it forms an optimal configuration for comprehensive European coverage.

Pricing and Configurations

Specific server configurations and pricing for the new data center are currently being finalized and will be published on the ERPC website within this month. A separate announcement will be made upon release.

Structural Advantage Through Latest-Generation Hardware

All hardware deployed in the new data center consists of the latest-generation premium resources optimized for Solana.

AMD EPYC 5th Gen — The latest architecture for data center workloads
AMD Threadripper PRO 5th Gen (9975WX, etc.) — The industry's highest clock speed workstation-class processors
NVMe 5th Gen — Latest-generation storage I/O across the board

Latest-generation CPUs and storage deliver improvements not just in clock speed but at the architecture level — boosting IPC (instructions per clock), power efficiency, and memory bandwidth across the board. This generational structural advantage translates directly into sustained performance differentiation for high-frequency workloads like those demanded by Solana.

ASN Concentration Score Advantage

One of the key performance metrics for Solana validators is the ASN Concentration Score. This metric evaluates the decentralization, stability, and fault tolerance of the Solana network, designed to prevent excessive validator concentration on any single ASN and to maintain overall network health.

ASNs with many validators receive lower scores, while ASNs with fewer validators receive higher scores. Historically, however, a dilemma existed between this metric and actual performance. ASNs with low utilization scored well on concentration but often could not deliver sufficient performance on the Solana network. Conversely, data centers capable of delivering high performance tended to attract heavy utilization, which in turn lowered their concentration scores.

The data center operated under ELSOUL LABO's new ASN (AS200261) delivers top-tier hardware and network quality while simultaneously offering the concentration score advantage of a new ASN. Performance and decentralization — conditions that were previously considered mutually exclusive — can now be achieved together.

Five Consecutive Years of WBSO Approval — A Foundation Backed by R&D

ELSOUL LABO has received approval under the Dutch government's WBSO R&D support program for five consecutive years since 2022. The R&D projects approved for 2026 include research on ultra-low-latency Solana RPC infrastructure and automation of validator placement and operational orchestration. The opening of this data center represents the real-world realization of these R&D outcomes.

Research hypotheses take shape as implementations, are validated under real operational constraints, and the insights gained feed back into the next cycle of research. This feedback loop is the foundation of ELSOUL LABO's technology platform.

Initial Lot Sold Out — Waitlist Now Open

The 5th-generation premium resources prepared as the initial lot for the new data center have already sold out by reservation.

Premium resources that combine top-tier hardware and network quality are physically constrained in supply. Against the backdrop of rapidly expanding demand in both AI and blockchain, inventory shortages are expected to continue.

Subsequent inventory will be allocated in waitlist registration order. We encourage you to register at this opportunity.

Contact & Waitlist Registration

To register for the waitlist or for any inquiries, please create a support ticket via the official Validators DAO Discord.

Validators DAO Official Discord: https://discord.gg/C7ZQSrCkYR

For official information about ERPC and available plans, please visit:

ERPC Official Website: https://erpc.global/en

We sincerely appreciate your continued support of ERPC.